By Mike Godsey

Online sportsbooks and casinos may look to the World Trade Organization for relief from the financial devastation caused by the US government’s crackdown on online gambling. Essentially Congress passed pork barrel legislation that would make it a crime to use credit cards or online payments for Internet betting.

This ruling had a crippling effect on gambling companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Gambling is legal in the United Kingdom.  Monday, shares of Party Gaming stock fell 58 percent or about $3.8 billion. 888 Holdings had its shares fall 26 percent the same day.

Online betting operations have found solace in a recent ruling by the WTO.  In a case involving Antigua versus the United States, the WTO did rule the bizarre exceptions made for online horse racing operations and state lottery systems are inconsistent with global trade rules.

According to the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center, more than half of the estimated $12 billion in online gambling revenue comes from the United States.